Letter of His Eminence, Cardinal Mercier, to Baron von der Lancken

Archdiocese of Malines
Malines, October 16, 1915

Sir,

I have had the honor of sending His Excellency, Baron von Bissing, a letter of which I inclose a copy.
Repeatedly and even publicly the Governor-General has expressed his intention to reserve a large share of his solitude for the interests of the occupied territory, and you yourself have so often affirmed the wish of the German authorities not to perpetuate during the period of occupation the state of war which existed during its (p.151) early days. Consequently, I cannot believe that you will put into execution the measures with which your Government threatens the Belgian workmen who have been reduced, through no fault of their own, to a state of "unemployment".
I hope you will use all your influence with the higher authorities to prevent such a crime.
Do not speak to us, I beg of you, of the need of maintaining public order, nor of the burden on public charity. Spare us this bitter irony. You are well aware that the public order is not menaced, and that every moral and civil influence would spontaneously cooperate with you if public order were endangered. The "unemployed" are not a burden on official charity, and it is not from your finances that they derive support.
Consider whether it is not to the interest of Germany, as well as to your own, to respect the pladges signed by two high officials of your Empire.
I feel confident that my petitions to the Governor-General and you will not be misinterpreted or misunderstood, and beg to remain

Yours respectfully
(signed) D.J. Cardinal Mercier
Archbishop of Malines

Baron von der Lancken
Chief of the Political Department, Brussels

On October 26, Governor-General von Bissing sent Cardinal Mercier a letter which left (p.152) no doubt in the mind of His Eminence that the German authorities had resolved to continue the wholesale deportations of Belgian citizens. This document was sent in French and German. The following is a translation of the authentic French text.

General von Bissing's answer to His Eminence Cardinal Mercier
Brussels, October 26, 1916

Your Eminence :
In your favor of October 19, Your Eminence has requested that Belgian "unemployed" should not be transported to Germany. While fully appreciating Your Eminence's point of view, I feel it my duty to answer that you have not considered all the aspects of the very difficult problem of "unemployment" in Belgium. This is especially the case with regard to certain quite abnormal circumstances, which have been brought about by two years of warfare and which Your Eminence has not considered in all their bearing. The measures which you wish countermanded are only the expression of an imperious necessity, and an inevitable consequence of the war. Of this you will find an explanation below.
Your Eminence begins your letter by recalling the declarations which were made by my predecessor and the Military Governor of Antwerp in October, 1914. These declarations referred (p.153) to facts linked with the military operations. They related to Belgians who were subject to military service, and who, in accordance with the generally accepted customs of warfare, could not have been brought as civil prisoners to Germany. At this period England and France were removing from neutral ships sailing on the high seas all Germans between the ages of seventeen and fifty years and interning them in concentration camps. Germany has not applied the same measure to Belgium. The declarations made to Your Eminence to enable you to reassure the population have been strictly observed. In any case, these declarations were a proof of the good intentions with which the German Governor-Generals undertook the administration of the occupied territory. In view of the clandestine and wholesale emigration of young Belgians to rejoin the Belgian army, the German authorities would have been completely justified in following the example of England and France. They have not done so. The utilization of Belgian "unemployed" in Germany, which has been inaugurated only after two years of warfare, differs essentially from throwing men of military age into captivity. The measure has nothing at all to do with the conduct of the war, properly speaking, but is occasioned by social and economic conditions.
The economic situation of Germany - a policy which England has pursued mercilessly and with (p.154) the utmost vigor - has extended to and pressed ever more heavily on Belgium. Belgian industry and commerce, which depend largely on the importation of raw materials and the export of manufactured goods, were vitally injured. The inevitable consequence was the lack of work for the mass of the population. The system of granting subventions, which were allowed on a large scale to the "unemployed", might be acceptable in the case of a war of short duration. The long duration of the war fostered an abuse of these grants, and introduced a condition of affairs which is intolerable from the social standpoint. As early as the spring of 1915 far-seeing Belgians approached me and pointed out the perils of the situation. They emphasized the fact that, no matter who might furnish the funds at present, the grants would ultimately become a burden on the resources of Belgium. They pointed out, moreover, that the grants are encouraging the workers to give themselves over and accustom themselves to idleness. The inevitable consequence of the prolongation of "unemployment" would be the moral and physical deterioration of the workers. Skilled workmen, especially, would lose their technical aptitude for their trades, and would grow useless for industry in coming times of peace. In accordance with these representations and in collaboration with the competent Belgian department, my Orders of August, 1915, (p.155) against deliberate "unemployment" were framed. These ordinances were completed by the Order of May 1, 1916, and provided for compulsion only when a workman refuses, without a valid reason, to undertake at proper wages a work suited to his ability, and thus becomes a charge on public charity. Every refusal based on the right of nations is formally recognised as valid. Consequently, no workman can be compelled to participate in works connected with the war. 
Your Eminence will recognize that these Orders are based on sound principles of legislation, which, it is true, place general interests above individual liberty. The social sores, which made their appearance in 1915, having developed into a public calamity, it is now our duty to apply efficaciously the Orders in question.
Your Eminence invokes the high ideal of family virtues in your letter. I may be permitted to answer that, like Your Eminence, I rate this ideal very highly, but for this reason I must also declare that the working classes would be in the gravest danger of losing sight of all ideals, if we tolerated a condition which would inevitably grow worse. For idleness is the worst enemy of family life. Men who work for their families at a distance from their homes - a condition which has always existed among Belgian workmen - undoubtedly contribute more to the well-being of their families than the "unemployed" who (p.156) remain at home. Men who undertake work in Germany can maintain their relations with their families. At regular intervals they are given leave of absence to return to their homes. They can bring their families to Germany, where also they will find priests who know their language.
Using their simple common sense, a large number of the people have already recognized these facts, and tens of thousands of Belgian workmen have gone of their own free will to Germany. There, placed on a level with German workmen, they earn high wages which they have never known in Belgium. Instead of sinking into misery, as their comrades who remained at home have done, they are improving their own condition and that of their families. A large number of others would like to follow their example, but do not dare to do so, because influences brought systematically to bear upon them make them hesitate. If they do not rid themselves of these influences within a reasonable time, they must submit to compulsion. The responsibility for whatever rigorous measures are then taken, which might have been avoided, must fall on those who have prevented them from working. To enable Your Eminence to judge the situation in its entirety, I ask you to consider the following explanations which are the very essence of the problem :
The isolation policy adopted by England has (p.157) necessarily resulted in the establishment of a community of economic interests between the occupied territories and Germany, and Germany is practically the only country with which Belgium can have commercial relations. Although the practice is common between enemy countries, Germany has not refused to make payments in Belgium, and consequently German money is always entering the country. The wages of Belgians working in Germany increase this flow still further. Besides, the occupation itself results in a constant movement of money to Belgium, and to this must be added the war levies which, in accordance with the established and recognized principle, are spent exclusively in the country. The community of interests resulting from existing conditions imposes on both parties, by the very logic of things, the necessity of exchange and of maintaining a proper equilibrium between the elements of economic life. Hundreds of thousands of workmen being idle in Belgium while there is a shortage of labor in Germany, it becomes both a social and economic duty to employ the Belgian "unemployed" in productive work in Germany. This is necessitated by the community of interests. If there is any objection to be offered to this condition of things, it should be addressed to England, which has created the necessity by its policy of isolation. Your Eminence will see from the foregoing (p.158) that the problem is very complex. I should feel a deep satisfaction if, after my explanation, you would examine the problem from the social and economic standpoint.

Yours most respectfully
(signed) Frh. von Bissing
Lieutenant-General

His Eminence, Cardinal Mercier
Archbishop of Malines, Malines

The above letter showed clearly that the German authorities had no intention of acceding to the legitimate complaints of the Belgian people. The deportations continued with that pitiless regularity which characterizes even the harshest measures of the Berlin Government, as if the sufferings and complaints of tens of thousands of men, women, and innocent children counted as nothing with the occupying Power. The only resort of the Belgian bishops was to direct public opinion towards the vexatious measures taken by the invader. On November 7, therefore, the Belgian bishops issued the Appeal to Public Opinion.

Appeal of the Belgian Bishops to Public Opinion
Malines, November 7, 1916

The military authorities are deporting daily from Belgium to Germany thousands of inoffensive citizens and there assigning them to forced labor.
(p.159)
On October 19, we sent the Governor-General a protest, copies of which were sent to the representatives of the Holy See, Spain, the United States, and Holland, at Brussels. The Governor-General replied that it was impossible to grant our petition. At the time of our protest the ordinances of the occupying Power menaced only the "unemployed". To-day, all able-bodied men are being taken away indiscriminately, herded into wagons, and deported no one knows where, like a troop of slaves. The work of the enemy is proceeding by districts. A vague rumor had reached out ears that arrests had been made in the depots at Tournai, at Ghent, and at Alost, but we did not know under what conditions. Between October 24 and November 2 the enemy was active in the region of Mobs, Quievrain, Saint-Ghislain, Jemappes, drafts of from eight hundred to twelve hundred men are being arrested daily.
To-morrow and the following days the district of Nivelles will be descended on. Here is a copy of the notice announcing the outrage:

"By order of the Kreischef all persons of the male sex of over seventeen years of age are summoned to be present at the Place St. Paul, Nivelles, November 8, 1916, at eight o'clock (H.B.), nine o'clock (H.C.), bringing their identification cards, and also (if they possess them) their Meldeamt cards.
"Only small hand baggage may be brought. (p.160)
"Anyone who does not present himself will be forcibly deported to Germany, and will be liable besides to a heavy fine and long imprisonment.
"Ecclesiastics, doctors, lawyers, and teachers are not required to present themselves.
"The burgomasters will be held responsible for the proper execution of this order, which must be brought immediately to the attention of the inhabitants."

There is an interval of twenty-four hours between the posting of the notice and the deportation. Under the pretext that certain public works had to be executed on Belgian soil, the occupying Power had endeavored to obtain from the communes lists of "unemployed" workmen. Most of the communes proudly refused to supply this
information.
Three Orders of the Governor-General were issued to prepare the way for the blow which strikes us to-day.
On August 15, 1915, the first Order imposed compulsory labor on all "unemployed" under penalty of a fine and imprisonment, but declared that they would be engaged only on works in Belgium, and that infringements of the decree would be tried by Belgian tribunals. 
A second Order, of May 2, 1916, reserves to the German authorities the right of furnishing work for the "unemployed", and threatens with (p.161) a penalty of three years' imprisonment and a fine of 20,000 Marks any person who shall have any works executed which are not authorized by the Governor-General. By virtue of this same Order, the competence to try infringements of the Order is transferred from Belgian to German tribunals.
A third Order, dated May 13, 1916, "authorizes the Governors, military commanders, and district chiefs, to order the "unemployed" to be forcibly conducted to the places where they are to work." This was, true enough, forced labor, but always on Belgian territory.
To-day it is no longer forced labor in Belgium, but in Germany and for the benefit of the Germans. And, to give an outward semblance of plausibility to its violent measures, the occupying Power cites the following two pretexts in the German press of Germany and Belgium " The "unemployed" are a menace to public order, and a charge on official charity.
These allegations have been answered in the letter which we addressed to the Governor-General and the Chief of his political department on October 19:

"You are well aware that public order is not menaced, and that every moral and civil influence would spontaneously cooperate with you if public order were endangered.
"The 'unemployed' are not a burden on official (p.162) charity, and it is not from your finances that they derive support."

In his reply, the Governor-General no longer invokes these two considerations, but alleges that the grants to the 'unemployed', from whatsoever source they may come at present, must eventually be a burden on our finances, and that it is the task of a good administrator to relieve them of these charges. He adds that "the prolongation of 'unemployment' would deprive our workmen of their technical aptitude, and that they would grow useless for industry in coming times of peace."

There were, it is true, other means to protect our finances - for example, by sparing us war levies which have already attained a thousand millions, and are mounting at the rate of forty millions a month; by sparing us requisitions in kind, which already amount to several thousand millions, and are exhausting our country.
There were other means available for preserving the skill of our trained workmen - for example, by leaving Belgian industry its machinery and accessories, its raw materials and the manufactured products which have been sent from Belgium to Germany. Nor is it in the quarries or lime-kilns, to which the Germans declare they will send our "unemployed", that our specialists will perfect their professional education. The naked truth is that every deported workman (p.163) means a soldier added to the German army, for he will take the place of a German workman, who will be made into a soldier.
Consequently, the situation which we denounce to the civilized world may be reduced to these terms : Four hundred thousand workers are reduced to 'unemployment' through no fault of their own and largely because of German occupation. Sons, husbands, and fathers, they bear their unhappy lot unmurmuringly and respect public order. Provision for their most pressing needs has been made, thanks to our national solidarity. By dint of parsimony and generous self-denial, they are saved from extreme misery, and are awaiting with dignity the end of our common trial, safe in the intimacy which is fostered by national grief.
Gangs of soldiers force their way into these peaceful households, and tear the young men from their parents, the husband from his wife, the father from his children. At the point of the bayonet, the soldiers prevent wives and mothers from throwing themselbes into the arms of the departing ones to bid them a last adieu. The captives are ranged in groups of forty or fifty, and forcibly hoisted into railroad wagons. The locomotive is under steam, and, as soon as the train is filled, an officer gives the signal to start. Another thousand Belgians have been reduced to slavery, and, without a preliminary trial, have (p.164) been condemned to the severest punishment in the penal code except death - deportation. They do not know whither they are going, or how long their absence will endure. All they know is that their work will benefit only the enemy. In several cases, by bribes or threats, a contract, which the Germans venture to describe as 'voluntary', has been extorted from the exiles.
Furthermore, while the 'unemployed' are indeed enrolled, a large number of others who have never been unemployed, and belong to the most varied professions, have been also recruited. The latter class, which formed twenty-five per cent of the total in the district of Mons, includes butchers, bakers, foremen-tailors, brass workers, electricians and farmers. Even the very young were taken - students in colleges, universities and other high schools.
And yet two high officials of the German Empire had formally guaranteed us the liberty of our fellow-citizens.
On the day after capitulation of Antwerp, the distracted population was asking what would become of Belgians who were of military age, or who would attain such before the end of the occupation. Baron von Huene, Military Governor of Antwerp, then authorized me to reassure anxious parents in his name. Nevertheless, as it was rumoured in Antwerp that young men had been seized at Liege, Namur, and Charleroi and deported (p.165) to Germany, I begged von Huene to confirm in writing the guarantees which he had given me verbally. He answered that the rumors of deportations were groundless, and gave me without hesitation the written statement which was read in all the parish churches of the Province of Antwerp, on Sunday, October 15, 1914: "Young men need have no fear of being sent to Germany, either to be enrolled in the army there, or to be employed at forced labor."
On the arrival of Baron von der Goltz in Brussels, in the capacity of Governor-General, I went and asked him to ratify for the whole country, and without any limitation of time, the pladges already granted by Governor von Huene for the Province of Antwerp. The Governor-General retained my petition to examine it at leisure. On the following day, he came in person to Malines, bringing his approval, and, in the presence of two aides-de-camp and my private secretary, confirmed the promise that the liberty of Belgian citizebs would be respected.
In my letter of October 19 last to Baron von Bissing, after reminding him of the pledges given by his predecessor, I concluded:
"Your Excellency will appreciate how heavy would be the weight of my responsibility towards families if the confidence which they have reposed in you through my intervention and on my recommendation were lamentably deceived."
(p.166)
The Governor-General replied : "The utilization of Belgian 'unemployed' in Germany, which is being inaugurated only after two years of warfare, differs essentially from throwing men of military age into captivity. The measure has nothing at all to do with the conduct of the war, properly speaking, but is occasioned by social and economic conditions."
As if the word of an honest man were annullable at the end of one or two years, like an officer's lease!
As if the declaration confirmed in 1914 did not expressly exclude military operations and forced labor!
As if, in fine, every Belgian workman, who takes the place of a German, did not allow the latter to fill a gap in the German army!
We pastors of those flocks which are being torn from us by brutal force, are filled with anguish at the idea of the moral and religious isolation in which our flocks will languish. Impotent witnesses of the grief and terror of so many destroyed and menaced households, we appeal to believers and non-believers alike - among our Allies, in neutral countries, and even among our enemies - who retain a respect for human dignity.
When Cardinal Lavigerie undertook his campaign against slavery, Pope Leo XIII, while blessing his mission, said: "Opinion is more than ever queen of the world; you should act (p.167) through it. Through public opinion alone will you attain victory."
May the Divine Providence graciously inspire all who possess authority, a word or a pen, to rally around our humble Belgian flag for the abolition of European slavery!
May the conscience of man triumph over all sophisms, and remain unalterably faithful to the great maxim of St. Ambrose : Honor above all! Nihil preferendum honestati!
In the name of the Belgian Bishops (2),
(signed) D.J. Card. Mercier
Archbishop of Malines


(2) we are unable to get into communication with the Bishop of Bruges (back)

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